Life is simple, follow your passion!
Just wanted to share this short video with you. Take 1 minute to watch this truly inspiring video and spend some time contemplating over the text.
Ever since I was introduced to the Holstee Manifesto, it has served as a simple and efficient reminder for me on how to live my life. Hope it can inspire you.
Have a great day!
Lars Riis
I hosted a small meet-up this past weekend, where the goal was to learn more about building websites and optimizing them. It is an area that I find very interesting and challenging. (also the reason to the existence of this website).
The goal for the weekend, was to build a website in 60 hours and to learn how to optimize the site and the process behind creating a good website.
Check out the below video, to see the result from the weekend:
It was a really inspiring weekend and I can easily say that all participants learned a lot about building websites and how to get the most out of the web. We were a bunch of different persons and personalities and that made everything even more inspiring. Everyone contributed with some great insights and we had an open and honest environment.
It is truly amazing what you can actually do in a few days, if you stay focused and dedicated. It will not be the last time I host such an event, so in case you wanna join a future event, send me an email.
I am looking forward to be working on the learnings I took away from the weekend.
P.s In case you want to see the result, check out www.skinnysweatpants.com
Have you ever wondered what it takes to get rich? Or how you become successful?
This book has been a huge inspiration for me, and it is one that I often read to get motivated and to keep me on track.
Spend a few hours on reading this, and you will have the knowledge you need to achieve your dreams. So follow the advices in this FREE book, and you will be able to get to where you want to go.
Here you go: Think and Grow Rich
This was made 72 years ago. Not much have changed since then…
One of the greatest movie-speeches in history, done by the biggest star of the silence movie.
Have a great weekend!
- Lars Riis
Read this slowly and focused, if you want to learn to read faster!
Everyone reads, and most people also read a lot more than they are aware of. Newspapers, e-mails, magazines, books, reports and so on. If you imagine how many hours you actually spend reading every year, it is strange that so few people actually try to train and improve their reading pace.
If I had to choose one single skill that have helped me the most the past year, it would be the art of speed reading. I receive an enormous amount of e-mails every day, and being able to skim thru them quickly without missing the message of the email has been a huge time saver. Not to mention the advantage it has given when studying and reading books.
Being capable of going through your material effectively and fast, will improve your learning curve dramatically and it is a huge time saver.
Speed reading is a skill that needs practice, and you have to remember that it is not only about pace, but about efficiency. There is no point in reading so fast that you don’t understand anything of what you have just read!
So how do you read faster?
1. Test your speed.
If you want to improve something, you have to find out what level you are currently at. The easiest way to measure how fast you read, is to take a test. You can do that on several sites on the internet. I used this one: http://www.readingsoft.com/.
2. Read the right things the right way.
First step is to choose your material. Do speed-read as much as you can, but please remember that some things are worth reading slowly (either for the sake of pleasure or to make sure you do not mess up something really important!). So if you are reading a letter from your loved one, a fictional-book or a legal document, then please DO NOT SPEED READ. There is a big difference between reading for pleasure and reading to get as much information as possible, in a short span of time.
When you are ready to start practicing speed-reading, start with some easy material that you feel comfortable reading.
3. Be focused.
Whether you are going through a whole book or just reading a short e-mail, the most important thing is to focus. Be present and only do one thing at a time.
Reading longer texts:
No!!! You can not read with the television running in the background. And no! You can not read while Lady Gaga is screaming in the background. Many mistakenly think that they are capable of reading effectively while they listen to music. But no, you can not read fast or efficient with lots of things going on in the background. You need to be focused and dedicated. If you have to listen to music, listen to classical music (sorry – we are getting a bit geeky now!). It will actually stimulate your brain activity and tune your brain to “learning-mode”. Choose long tracks and preferably baroque music. Go for Mozart, Vivaldi or Bach. Give it a try – and focus!!!
4. Use a tracker.
In the beginning speed-reading might seem very difficult and you can get the feeling that you are not actually understanding anything of what you are reading. That is fine, it takes practice before you master this skill.
Use a finger, pen or tracker to follow your reading. This is to keep track of your reading, but also to make sure that you are keeping a consistent pace and is focused.
5. Read in sequences.
Start your reading with the first word of each line and then add pace and try not to read every letter but only glance at the words. As you get more practice and up the pace, the next step is to start at the second word of each line. When you have done that for a while, move on to start with the third word in each line and end reading the line when you come to the third last word in the line.
When you read, you do not have to consciously read every single word and letter. Despite you missing words in the beginning and at the end of each line, your brain will at a sub-conscious level read the other words. Reading faster is not about reading every single word, but about reading in sequences.
6. Pratice speed.
When you start practicing, you should read as fast as you possible can. When you are training your ability to read faster, it is not about understudying everything of what you read, but about training the brain for a faster pace. You should practice at a speed that is actually higher than where you want to get to. This probably doesn’t sound very logic, but thrust me, it will work. Try and go for 15 minutes of practicing every day for two weeks. When you have done that for two weeks, you should try to test your reading pace again. You should read at a pace SLOWER than the pace you been practicing, but still way faster than your old speed. You will find, that you will have improved your speed, without loosing the understanding of what you have been reading. What is just as important, is that you will also have tuned your brain to be FOCUSED while reading. It is better to read for 15 minutes and be really dedicated, that 30 minutes where you are not paying enough attention.
Hope this have been helpful.
P.s: Tim Ferriss’ blog where he also discuss the topic of reading faster, has been very inspiring for me. Check his post about speed reading out here: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/07/30/speed-reading-and-accelerated-learning/
“You’re the same today as you’ll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
6 ways to read better
After having read lots of books (and forgotten most of what I have read!), I have found a method for reading, that makes it much easier for me to remember what I have read. These simple 6 tricks, are useful if you are reading something that you want to remember and if you want to improve your understanding of what you are reading. So throw out your television, read better and start learning!
1. Have a plan with your reading. Why are you reading this book and what do you expect to learn?
You will be much more motivated to read and find it easier to focus on your reading, if you know why you are doing it and what the purpose of your reading is.
2. Read it 2 times!
First you skim through the book and get a understanding of the book and its structure. Highlight areas you believe to be important.
The second time you read to learn. Read in detail, but focus on the areas that you believe to be important.
3. Take notes and use a marker.
Take notes and translate what you are reading into your own words. Use a marker to highlight high-info areas and parts that are of importance.
Pay special attention to areas of the book than contains special types of formatting, graphs, pictures, tables or figures. These areas are often high-info areas.
Do not highlight every second word of the book and be conscious of what you are noting down. Remember the notes and highlights should only contain the key points. It should make it easier for you to remember what you have read and easy for you to go back and re-visit your notes. If you take to many notes, you will only make it more complicated for yourself and it will be more difficult to learn the essence of what you are reading.
4. Take time off.
Do not try and read a book from start to end in a couple of hours. Read maximum 45 minutes of an hour. Make sure you then get up and move around. Take time to free your mind and unconsciously process what you have just read.
5. Question the authors structure of the book.
When you have looked at the different chapters and skimmed through the book, it is okay to change the structure of your reading. You don’t have to read from start to end. You might find that parts of the book is unnecessary for you to read or you might find that it is better for you to jump around between the chapters.
6. Rehearse and practice!
When you have finished a book, then use what you have read. Discuss your findings with others, quiz yourself, challenge the authors opinion with your own opinion.You memory of what you have read and your knowledge of the topic will improve dramatically when you force your brain to re-visit what you have just learned.
I just wish I had learned the above long ago. These 6 ways to read better, will dramatically improve your learning.
When I look at my bookshelf, I am sad to admit that I only remember few things of the things I have read. These 6 tricks make you read smarter and learn faster.
- Lars
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
16 months in my life from Lars Riis on Vimeo.
If you want to see the video at a mobile device and the Vimeo link is not working, then please visit:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkQPWJnK_K0
Yet another fantastic year has passed. Lots of great experiences and challenges. I have moved to Germany and have taken up a new role at TJX. Its been a hectic and exciting year. The last 6 months I have been experimenting with different projects and initiatives to make my life better, healthier and more fun.
Just to name a few of the things: learning german, optimizing my health and trying to reverse permanent injuries, learning how to build and run a website and I have planned my goals, projects and values for the future. I have learned a lot thru different experiments and now have a firm strategy in place for what I want to do in the next 12 months and how I want to achieve my goals.
Travel:
2011 was another year with lots of travels (22 countries in 12 months). I have been to Canada, USA, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Scotland, England, Austria, Switzerland, South Africa, Swaziland, Spain. Many of the countries I have visited several times and traveled thru extensively. I love getting an insight in other cultures, environments and people. My plan is to share some of the best experiences for my travels in the future and give my personal recommendations for restaurants, shops, hotels, sights etc.
Learning:
I have been trying to optimize my learning curve and I have done a lot of research and experimenting to find the best way for me to acquire new skills and knowledge. I will post specific posts about this in the next few months as my experiments continue and I find the best formula to improve my learning curve. The main topics I will be working with are: NLP, Speed Reading, Language Learning, Mind Hack, Online business and general self development.
Outsourcing and increased effectiveness:
Another interesting topic I have been working with in the last few months, is about outsourcing some of my personal tasks and how to free up time to do the things that I really love or think will add value to my life. Increasing my effectiveness in both my private life and at work, have meant that I have been able to do my work much better, more efficient and been able to prioritze my tasks the best way.
Body:
Thru different experiments, I achieved a fast and effective weight-loss and improved the condition of some permanent injuries that I have. These experiments have given me a good insight in how I can optimize my body so that I get more energy, feel better and keep myself in a good shape. I will start implementing my gains from these experiments in my daily life and keep testing different things as I try to improve my health and body. This is a topic I find very interesting and it should provide some great posts in the future.
Looking forward to a mind-blowing 2012.
Hi guys,
Here we go – my first “official” post!
Why ?
I recently decided that I wanted to learn how to build, run and optimize websites. I have bought several domains, and before I start building websites on these domains, I will use this website as a “trial” project. The context of this website will be focused on my main interests and give my friends, family and others easy access to see what I am fooling around with. My hope is that some of the things I put up on this site, will help or inspire other people as well.
The most important thing for me with this website, is to learn how to build and operate a site. Furthermore I want to use it as a kind of diary to keep track of my life and my different interests.
I hope some of you will find this site and its future context interesting. I know many of you will think this is another weird and eccentric thing to do – but thats fine with me :)